Discussion Groups / British English / February 2004

Aunty has an excellent web site, complain there, they do take notice.

Dave F

Annoying isn't it.

I suspect there is a problem with the use of the autocue/teleprompter
devices from which these people read.
I've occasionally seen a programme in which the autocue has been shown
(deliberately).

There is a limit
to the number
of letters that
can be shown at
any one time.
The reader will
not be able to
see a complete
sentence before
starting to read
it.

I've looked at a promotional video for the Autocue.
http://www.autocue.co.uk/Autocue_promo.htm

Here is an example of text from an autocue display:

refugees to be
repatriated since
the fall of Saddam
Hussein have
made an
emotional return

Looking at other examples it seems that a typical display shows 5 lines of
18 characters.

There is an obvious danger that the reader will lose track of the meaning of
the sentence and resort to reading the words one by one.

The text scrolls upwards at a rate determined by an operator. The operator
attempts scroll the text to keep the next line to be read in a standard
position on the display. If, however, operator and reader get out of synch
the correct flow of the sentence will be lost.

Grrr indeed. Funny, I noticed the "between or" thing too, but I can't
remember what I was listening to.

Adrian